


There are worse things I could do

by Phantomxlegend



Series: Percy Jackson one-shots :p [99]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, He’s trying his best, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Paul is a good step father, Percy Angst, description of a panic attack, gabe was horrible, mentions of previous child abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26556775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phantomxlegend/pseuds/Phantomxlegend
Summary: There are some things that Gabe did that never left Percy.  Paul didn’t mean to trigger him, he didn’t know.
Relationships: Paul Blofis & Percy Jackson
Series: Percy Jackson one-shots :p [99]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701808
Comments: 5
Kudos: 281





	There are worse things I could do

**Author's Note:**

> Yes the title is a grease song. My motivation went down the drain as I was trying to write this so the ending sucks. Whatever I’m feeling very insecure and too tired to write a vent fic on that so have this. Please enjoy.  
> Tw panic attack

“Hey, Percy,” Paul called from the kitchen. Percy who was sitting on the couch in the living room watching tv barely inclined his head.

“Yeah?”

“Can you come here for a sec?”

Percy furrowed his eyebrows confused but pushed himself up and padded into the kitchen.

“Yeah, what’d you need?” Percy learned against the kitchen door frame.

Paul was sitting at the counter grading papers, he slid a couple of them closer to Percy, “hey,” Paul’s tone was soft, concerned even, “I wanna know what’s up, you’ve been working really hard on your grades lately.”

The color drained from Percy’s face as he realized it was the past few assignments that he’d failed.

“I… Uh…” Percy swallowed thickly, “I’m sorry… I—I’ll do better next assignment. I’m sorry.”

“Woah, no, no, no,” Paul held his hands up in front of himself, “that’s not what I meant. Are you okay? Did something happen? I’m not mad or upset, I'm just concerned about you.”

Percy hesitated for a long time, “yeah… yeah of course! It was um...it was an accident.”

Paul furrowed his eyebrows, “if there’s something going on you can tell me and I’ll try and help you. I’m always here to help.”

Percy laughed awkwardly, his eyes darted around the room looking everywhere but Paul. He remembered how Gabe used to yell and scream every time Percy’s report card came back, Percy would be hit and sent to his room.

Paul wasn’t like that. Percy tried to tell himself that.

“Yeah uh… right…” Percy stammered.

“Perce, it’s okay,” Paul said, “I was a bit worried is all. I know how hard you’ve been working to keep your grades up and all.”

“Of course!” Percy smiled trying to mask the fear in his voice, “I’m gonna… go… uh study.” Percy slowly tried to back out of the kitchen.

“Percy, wait,” Paul stood up abruptly, causing Percy’s heart rate to spike. Percy stumbled over his feet and would have fallen if he didn’t barely catch himself on the door frame.

“I’m sorry!” Percy exclaimed. His voice cracked with rising anxiety. 

“Hey, deep breaths, it’s really okay,” Paul noticed Percy’s panic, he didn’t know what had triggered it however.

“Please… I swear… I—I’ll try harder,” Percy held his hands in front of himself defensively.

_ It’s just Paul.  _ Percy told himself.  _ It’s just Paul. It’s just Paul. It’s just Paul. It’s just— _

_ “You stupid brat!”  _

Percy tripped, his eyes were wide with fear. He was shaking too badly to even push himself back up to his feet.

“I’m sorry,” Percy whimpered, curling in on himself.

“Percy,” Paul blinked, his eyes darting over his step-son’s trembling form anxiously, “Percy I swear I’m not going to hurt you.” 

Percy ran his fingers through his hair, muttering apologizes over and over again.

Paul very slowly lowered himself to the floor, sitting down in front of Percy. Percy whimpered and tried to scoot away but his arms wouldn’t hold his weight long enough for him to scramble backwards.

Paul remembered the stories that Percy had offhandedly mentioned about his previous step-father Gabe. They were never in much detail.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Percy,” Paul insisted, he pushed himself away from Percy, making sure to give the kid space.

Percy ran his fingers through his hair wildly, “I didn’t—please… I tried…”

“I know you did,” Paul crossed his legs in front of himself, “Percy, can you breathe with me, please?” 

Percy didn’t react, it didn’t seem like he was even listening to Paul. The last thing Paul wanted to do was to make it worse, so he stayed a few feet away from Percy and made sure not to touch him.

Percy looked over at Paul but there was a glassy look in his eyes, he wasn’t really processing the things around him. Tears were streaming down his face.

Paul wanted more than anything to help but was at a loss of what he could do. He felt bad, he knew this was his fault.

Percy pressed his face against his knees, tangling his fingers in his hair. Percy extended one leg trying to steady his breathing.

Paul waited patiently, if it wasn’t just them two in the apartment for the day he could have called Sally in since she’d probably be able to help. 

After a while Percy weakly extended his hand to Paul, still keeping his face hidden.

Confused, Paul took Percy’s hand. Percy hiccuped softly and squeezed it. 

“Percy…” Paul spoke softly, “are you okay?”

The question was dumb, and Paul knew it. But he asked it anyway. 

“Sorry… I don’t…” Percy coughed, “sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, it’s okay. What happened?”

“Bad memories…” was all Percy said.

Paul briefly stood up and filled a glass with water for Percy. Percy didn’t drink much, just a small sip. But he held the glass in both hands, staring into the water.

“I’m sorry, Percy,” Paul said, “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I noticed that your grades slipped and I got worried that something was going on. I didn’t think that you’d have negative connections with that.”

“It’s okay…” Percy muttered, “not your fault…”

The water swirled around in the cup, “I haven’t been able to focus lately. I couldn’t study.”

“Oh…”

“I meant to come to you but I forgot.”

“I’ll help you do the next assignment.”

“Thanks…”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I had this idea earlier but didn’t have the time to write it. I wanna write solangelo but no motivation anymore. Thanks for reading this hopefully it didn’t suck to bad. Love y’all.


End file.
